Luke Harkness, Author at Luke’s Blog

24Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness 2 Comments

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is described as a "life-affirming bestseller" in it's Kindle title on Amazon and I must say, this is very true. The Book Thief is the story of a young girl starting in 1939 as she grows up in Nazi Germany and the stories of those around her as the bombs begin to fall. [caption id="attachment_1169" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Final Empire via one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you to support the blog. These links do not affect my final opinion of the product. I'll be honest, I picked up The Book Thief three or four years ago and DNFed…

21Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Blogger Spotlight: Primary Bookstagram

Blogger Spotlights, Features

Not all blogs are there to be uploaded to constantly. Some work as an alternative platform and a basis to promote your other successes. Primary Bookstagram, run by Claire, is a blog that currently only features one post as her main source of traffic is from her Instagram page, highlighting high-quality texts for year 6 students. [caption id="attachment_1161" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] What is your blog about? I believe children should read as many high-quality texts as possible to use as models and inspiration for their writing. Readers are writers, yet it is very time-consuming to find a real wealth of writing examples. I blog about which page numbers in quality children's literature can be used for writing models. I find specific setting descriptions, characterisation and atmosphere examples…

21Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness 1 Comment

Book Review: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Book reviews, Fantasy

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favourite authors and many say that The Final Empire is the perfect entry point into his books. So of course I had to pick it up and find out what all the hype's about. [caption id="attachment_1155" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase The Final Empire via one of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you to support the blog. These links do not affect my final opinion of the product. As you'll know, I've read Brandon Sanderson before and even reviewed him on here before. I read The Way of Kings before I picked up The Final Empire, but had heard that…

20Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Book reviews, Fantasy

When you look at other series out there that die-hard fans would say comes anywhere near to Harry Potter, the Percy Jackson series will feature on a lot of people's lists. It's got the young cast, the great friendships and the magical elements. But how good actually is Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. [caption id="attachment_1149" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the first of technically seven books in the series, however, there are spin-offs too. It features our main character Percy Jackson, accompanied by mythical friends, all of whom are children of greek gods (literally, not just ridiculously good-looking people.) Plot – 3.5/5 Comparisons are made to Harry Potter because it features the general story of a boy who doesn't feel like…

18Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness

FREE and cheap Promotions and Giveaways to Increase Your Social Media Following

Features, Tips and Tricks

Having a good social media following is crucial to getting an audience to your blog. If you want people to repetitively see your posts and visit your articles, then having a good social media following is a great way to keep them coming back. However, building that social media following isn't easy. There's either the long and patient method, asking people to follow you or one of the most effective ways to increase your following for free or for very little money is by doing giveaways. By doing giveaways you can create rules on how people enter. You should make these rules easy enough for everyone to enter but also an easy way to get your social media platform shared around. I'd recommend getting people to share the post/tweet around…

17Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Book reviews, Contemporary Fiction, Crime, Mystery

The sequel to the record-breaking The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is now out. The Man Who Died Twice brings back all of our favourite characters with their wit, intelligence and dry sense of humour and introduces us to some new characters, expanding on this utterly enjoyable fictional world that Osman is building. [caption id="attachment_1136" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Set after The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice has quite the hype to live up to after Osman's first book broke records for the speed at which it sold. With intelligent, funny characters, an utterly loveable fictional British town and Osman's dry and very English writing style, this is another huge success. Plot – 4.5/5 The Man Who Died Twice sees our favourite Thursday Murder…

15Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Blogger Spotlight: Nallie Reviews

Blogger Spotlights, Features

As these Blogger Spotlights are part of a series, there has to be a second right? Yes, indeed. These spotlights are a chance for blogs to gain a little more exposure and to talk about why they started blogging and give tips to others who may be looking to start out too. [caption id="attachment_1125" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Today we're highlighting Nallie Reviews. As always, I asked my usual suite of questions to Nallie: What is your blog about? Best described, when I first started out (still kinda new) I wanted to just review books. I realised my writing wasn't really strong enough, and also I had a lot of opinions about other stuff, I branded it as a bookish blog instead. I write book reviews sometimes when…

13Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Book Review: The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

Book reviews, Historical Fiction

Bernard Cornwell has built up quite the repertoire of best-selling historical fiction novels. However, his 'Last Kingdom' series is likely his biggest having been made into a critically acclaimed and very successful Netflix series too. The Pale Horseman is the second in the series and carries on the story of Uhtrid and everyone he comes up against. [caption id="attachment_1129" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] The Last Kingdom was a book that I had a lot of respect for. I love history and so love historical fiction - I enjoyed Cornwell's writing style and the massively flawed Uhtrid. The Pale Horseman continues to follow Uhtrid as he encounters different personalities along the way, staying close to King Alfred whom he is watching develop into a very intelligent King. Plot –…

12Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness No Comments

Blogger Spotlight: Weird & Liberated

Blogger Spotlights, Features

As part of a new thing I'm trying to do, I've been putting call outs on my social media pages for people to DM me their emails so I can send them some questions so I can highlight some of the bloggers out there that either don't feel they're getting the exposure they deserve or who just want to branch out their audience. This feature will give you a chance to meet new bloggers and potentially sign up to new blogs and will also possibly introduce you to new hobbies and interests. In this first post we're looking at 'Weird & Liberated': What is your blog about? Weird & Liberated is a lifestyle blog where I share my personal stories, thoughts, interests and my thoughts on anything and everything. I…

11Sep 2021 by Luke Harkness 5 Comments

Book Review: All The Light We Cannot See

Book reviews, Historical Fiction

All The Light we cannot see was recommended to me as my next read on my Instagram and Twitter. It was between this and The Song of Achilles. It's a story about two young people during the war and the struggles they face trying to survive under their own unique circumstances. And it just didn't resonate with me. [caption id="attachment_1110" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Pin me to Pinterest![/caption] Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase All The Light We Cannot See via any of these links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you to support the blog. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product. All The Light We Cannot See focuses on Marie-Laure and Werner Pfennig,…

Author: Luke Harkness